Tucking mechanism for knitting machines



July 14`, 1925. 1,545,615A A. D. STEWART ET AL TUCKING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Jan. 16, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet l 'July 14, 1925.

, 1,545,615 A. D. STEWART ET AL TUCKING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Jan. 1e. 1924 l 2 sheets-sheerv 2 'Patented July 14, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT 7 OFFICE. i

ALEXANDER kD. STEWART `.AND ROY VAGG, 0F HAMILTON, ONTAIO,CANADA.`

TUCKING "MECHANISVM FOR KNITTING `MAHINES.`

Application med v.Tammy 16, 1924. '-seriai no. 686,501.

To all 'whom t may 00a-cern: i t t Be it known that we, ALEXANDER D. STEW- An'r and ROY Vase, both oli" theV city o1c Hamilton, inthe county ofl Wentworth, Province of Ontario, Canada, subjects of the King oGreat Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in vTucking Mechanism for Knitting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

lIhis invention relates to knitting machines and` more particularlyI to that type adapted to produce open or tuck stitches and our object is to provide means for bringing any desired number of the needles for forming the tuck stitches, into and out of their tucking action whenV desired and vfor causing the remainder of said needles to constantly knit. I

7e attain our object by means of the constructions hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings lin which Y Fig. l is a front elevation of ptgrt of Aa knitting machine showing my improvements thereon; y

Fig. 2 a plan view of the same; p

Fig. 3 a development of the knitting cams and part of the needle support surrounding the revoluble needle cylinder;

Fig. 4 a detail inside elevation of the sliding cam mechanism for preventing or causing the long latched needles to knit,

Fig. 5 a detail in side elevation of the independent mechanism for controlling and actuating the desired number of the long latched needles to constantly knit;

Fig. 6 a diagrammatic view showing the arrangement of the series of long latched needles with their jacks in the series of short latched needles;

Fig. 7 a diagrammatic view showing the relative position of the loops on the short and long latched needles after being moved sufficiently to cast off the loops on the former; y

Fig. 8 a side elevation of a stocking showing one design formed thereinby my impro-ved machine; and i Fig. 9 a view similar to Fig. 3 showing diagrammatically the action of vthe various cams. Y l

1 is part of a rotary knitting machine frame on which a table 2v is carried. A needle cylinder 3V is suitably journalled to rotate in the said tablev and is driven in the usual manner from driving mechanism (not shown). A series of knitting instruments comprising needles 4 having short latches 4a are arranged within grooves in the needle cylinder` 8 in the usual manner 60 to be reciprocated vertically therein by appropriate knitting cams 5, including the stitch cams 5a and 5* and -theguide cam 5C. This kseries ofneedles is divided into two substantially equal groups, onel ofV which has short butts 4b and the other relatively long but-ts` 4c. t The short` butt needles are used Y for knitting theheel and theback portion o a stocking, while the long butt needles are used for knitting the instep Aand the front portion of the stocking.. The purpose of the different lengthedibutts is to enable the long butt needles to be thrown out of action during the knitting of the heel, which is well 1known in the art. 75 To produce open or tuck ystitches in theV tubular` stocking as it is being knitted, a second series of knitting instrumentsk is provided (see Figs. 6 and'). These instruments are arranged in series in the first series of instruments 4 and each instrument comprises a needle (Shaving a l-ong latch 6a, relative to the latch 4a, and a .jack 7 provided witha butt for Va purpose which will hereinafter appear. In the open work clock 55 design shown in Fig. 8 and formed by tuck ystitches `it will be noted that the latter are positioned` substantially midway of the for ward and rear centre lines, indicated at F and B respectively, of the stocking. `In other words the pattern is formed on each side of an imaginary line separating the work done by the short and long-,butt needles 4 which necessitates the long latched needles 6 having sh-ort and long butts Gl Vand 6 95 which are respectively arranged inthe short and long buttgroups oi the short latched `needles. 4. Each long latched needle is positioned between two. short latched needles.

It will readily be understood that the long 1U butt needles 6 will be thrown out Yof action with the long butt needles 4 whenthe heel is being knit as hereinbeiore mentioned.

It will also be understood that if desired v all the long latched needles may be placed 1W in either group of the short latched Aneedles series by providing them withv butts similar to the butts of the group in which they are placed. .The use of long` latched needles inserted in a yseries of `short latched needles HU lof either one Yof the' cams 5" or 5".

for producing tuck stitches is well known 1n the art as is also the manner of forming these stltcheswhich consists 'inpreventing the casting-olf of a loop formed on the' long latched needle fora number of.co.urses Themethod employed to obtainthe above Y results is briefly described as follows. All the needle butts 4b, 4C, 6b,.and 6 are adapted to engage the knitting. cams 5 and be functioned 'thereby in 'the usual manner. The upper sideV of'either one of the stitch lcams .5fL or 5'", depend'ingion the .direction f rotati'onfof the needle cylinder, is adapted to elevate alltherneedles relative to a yarn feeding means (not shown) whereby yarn or threadis fed to all the needlehooks on eachv course. The elevating .camk is also adapted to .carrythe shortlatches 4a of the needles 4 upwardlythrough loops already formed on the needles so that these loops will drop below the latches and thus clear the latter to permit the thread fed to the needle hooks to be drawn throughthe loops when these .needles descend. This'is caused by the needle butts engaging theunderside The loops which were on. theneedles 4 are thus cleared or cast-off rduring each course vand the thread pulled through them forms anew loop on each needle. Referring particularly to Figs. 3 and 9, it will be noted that the l cam a is used for .elevating the needles kwhen `the needle cylinder 'is in its normal direction of rotation as 'indicated by arrows in these figures. The upper end 5d of the cam. 5 is slightly lower than the upper end of the cam 5b to ensureV that the cam 5"L will only raise the short latched needles 4 to clear their latches and this movement is insuiiicient to cause the longlatches G of the needles 6 to pass through the loops already formedon their needles, see'Fig. 7. Therefore the latches of these needles are not cleared and when each of the needles 6 descends the loop thereonA is agaifn.l drawn down by the needle hook together with the yarn or thread fed thereto, thus preventing the casting-olf of the said loop. i

From this description'it is evident'that by raising Vthe long latched' needles '.6 s-ulic'iently during each course they will clear Vtheir latches and thus cast-'off their loops to constantly knit in the same manner as the needles 4, and by only raising them a sufcient distance periodically their latches are 'cleared of thetirstloop and a lsubsequent part or parts of loops which are cast-olf over the 'last thread supplied tothe needle hook, This forms a tuck stitch similar to that shown in the United States Patent No. 1,433,386 issued Oct. 24th, 1922-.

To cause the long latched needles G to be raised suh'iciently teclear their latches a vertically slidable cam 3l, associated with said knitting cams 5, is provided (see Figs. 9, 4, 3 and 2). The cam 3l is slidably mounted in a stationary needle support 5e which is of usual contour having the inclined surfaces 5f adapted to elevate the needles `after they have been drawn down- Wardly by either ofthe stitch cams 5a or 5" and to also Vsupportthe needles at their norlmal level. The typeof knitting cams and needle supports show-n in the drawings of this application fis shown and'vdescribed in UnitedStates Patent'933,443 issued on Sept. 7, 1909'. The cam 31 is provided with a pin v-8 which eXtendslatera-lly through aslot 9 formed in the' supporta This pin is adjustably connected in any suitable manner with one end of an actuating rod 10, the other end of which is connected by means of a pin and'slot connection with one arm of a lever 1l. 3 The rod rl() lis slidably mounted in'a yguide 10a secured -to the table 2. The lever 11 is secured to a spindle 12 Iiournalled on the frame 1` and positioned -as hereinafter described. The 'other arm of the lever ll is connected, by .means of aA link 13, with one'end of a second llever 14, the otherend of which Ais adapted to yengage a rotating pattern cam 15 having `high and low portions 15a and 15 respectively formed on its cam surface. This cam is secured to aS pattern shaft 16 which is rotated in any suitable manner.

. The cam 31' is thus raised and lowered relative to the cam 5a' and to the needle support 5e by the pattern cam 15, when the high portion k(15.engages the lever 14 the 'cam 31 is raised vto the position shown in Fig. 3 to engage all the butts 4b, 4, yG" and .6C and thus cause the needles G to be raised sufliciently to cleary their latches and thus permit the loops on the needles to be castolf, the eXtra movement given the needles 4 does not affect their knitting in any way. A stationary cam 3la co-actswith the sliding camv 3l to return the needles to 'their normal position, see Fig. 3. T.Vhen the low portion 15b engages'thel lever 14 the cam 31 is lowered to be flush with or below the level of the upper end of the needle support 5e as indicated yin dotted lines'in Fig. 9 so that the needle butts only rise-to the top of tho needle support 5e to prevent the long latched needles casting-olf their loops as hereinbe fore described.'

of one loop in every courseV we provide the` Mfollowing means Toa constantly rotating trically on the gear and each camk extends` through an arc of substantially 90o. arin 19 secured to the spindle 12 is provided at its free end with an anti-friction roller adapted to ride over the cams 17 so that during each revolution of thegear, when the leverA 111 isin engagement with the low por-V tion b of the pattern cam, the free end of the arm 19 will bek alternately raised'and lowered twice and thus actuate the spindle 12 to cause thecam 31 to be yraised. andglowered on alternate revolutions of the Yneedle cylinder. i

i To control any desired number of the long latched needles 6 to prevent the casting-olf of the loops thereof for a determined number of courses and to cause the remainder of the said long latched needles to function to constantly knitthe following means are provided. As hereinbe'fore mentioned each needle 6 is provided with a jack 7 which lies below the needle within the same groove in Vthe needle cylinder, and these jacksare pro-V vided with butts having` different lengths.

In Fig. 6 it will be noted that the two 4centrally located jacks have short butts 7?*,the

jacks adjacent `each of the centralljacks are provided with relatively slightly 'longer butts 7b and the jacks arranged'on opposite sides of the second mentioned jacks are provided with relatively slightlylonger butt-s 7 than the'butts of V4the second mentioned jacks. in other words the two centrally located vjacks havin-f short butts 7 are flanked en each side by two jacks having medium butts 7b, which are also flanked en each side bythree jacks having long butts 7c. A cam 20lisadapt'ed to be moved radially relative to the needle cylinder 3v and into'and out of engagement with all or any desired set of the jack butts to respectively cause the engaged jack butts to be raised and thus raise the long latched needles6 suiiciently to permit the loops on these needles to drop below the latches thereof andthus clear the latter during each course and independently of the cam 31, or to cause the needles 6 arranged above the disengaged jack butts to be entirely under the action of the cam 31, see Figs 3 and 9. When the jack butts are raised the butts of their needles are elevated to the position indicated at 6d and are adapted to engage the guide cam 5c whereby they are conditioned to knit in the saine manner as the short latched needles 41.

The cam 2() is formed ou or secured to a carrier 21 which 1s slidably mounted 1n a suitableguide formed in the table 2. y A ten,- sion spring 22 having one end connected with the carrier and the lother end with a suitable stationary part tends to' withdraw the cam 2() from engagement with the jack butts. The end of the carrier remoteV from the cam is engaged by a bar 23 which is slidably mounted in a guide 24 andv is pro vided with a lateral projection adapted to engage the latter to limit the movement of the slide bar in one direction. This prevents the cam 20 from being accidentally jammed against the periphery of the needle cylinder. One arm of a bell crank 26,pivoted on a suitable stationary part, is adapted to engage the projection 25 and to the other arm of the bell, crank is pivotally` connected one end Vof a link 27. The other end of this link is pivotally connected with one arm of a lever 28 the other arm of which is adapted to k.engage the periphery of a pattern drum 29. A coilL spring disposed ont-he link 27 and engaging a collar thereonv and the table 2 maintains the free end of the lever 28 in engagement with thejpattern drum. yThis drum is secured to the rotating pattern shaft 16 and has a high surface 2,94 and a series of low surfaces 29h, 29, 29d formed on .its periphery. It will be notedthat there are two surfaces 29b whicharelocated adja` cent eachiend of the high surface 29a for a purpose which will hereinafter` appear.

*Vith the above arrangement when the free en d of the lever28 is resting on the high surface 29a the' cam 2O is closely positioned relative to theneedle cylinderito engage all `the vbutts 7, 7 b and 7 C and thus cause all the long latchcd needles to be raised a sufficient Adistance to clear their latches and thus permit them to Constantly knit ashereinbefore `deseribed. When the drum 29 has been revolved to permit the lever 28 to drop into engagement with the surface 29", the bell .c1'ank26 will be actuated to permit the spring 22 vto withdraw the cam 2O from en- With-the surface 2.9c the spring22 Vwill looY Upermitted to withdraw the` cam 20 `from engagement with the medium `butts 7l and thus permit their needles to also come directly under the action of the cam 31 and to only cause the jack butts 7 C to function their needles to constantly knit. lVhen the lever 28..drops into engagement with the surface 291 the spring 22 will be permitted to withdraw thecam 2() from engagement with thelong butts 7c` and thus permit lall the leng latched needles 6 to come directly under the action of the cam 31. As 'the pattern drum is further rotated the free end of the-lever 28 willbe engaged by thesecond of the surfaces 29" and thus move the cam into engagement with the medium andv long jack butts 7b and 7 to cause their needles to function to constantly knit and only permit the needles located above the short jack butts 'Tato come under the action of thercam 31. On certain revolutions of the Vneedle cylinder some of the needles Gwill be raised twice, by meansof the cams 181 and 20, during one course of knitting, but this eXtra movement will not affect the knitting in any way. p y y The mode ofY operation is as follows. v To knit the top part of the leg of the-stocking, diagrammatically shown in Fig. 8, the cam 31 is held, by means ofthe high portion 15?* of the pattern cam 15, in its raised position to conditionall the needles 4. and 6l to constantly knit in the ordinary manner. The lever 28 during the knitting of this top portion is riding on' the high surface 29a of the pattern drum` 29-a11d the pattern shaft is being slowly rotated. `Then the. point is reached in the leg'of the stocking where it is desired toy start'the-clock, the cam 29 has been rotated to permit the lever 28 to drop into engagement with the low surface 29b to withdraw the cam 20 from the short butts 7a. The cam 15 has also been rotated to permit thelever 14: to drop into engagement with the low portion 15b to cause the cam 31 to be raised and lowered, by means of thecams 17, on alternative courses'. This permits the two longL latched needles having the short butt jacks to be `actuated tok only knit on every other course to produce the double row of tuck stitches a whilethe. remainder of the long latch'ed needles are being functioned to constantly knit. When the pattern drum is rotated sutiiciently the cam 2O is again actuated tot miss the. medium butts 7b to producey a wider series Z) of tuck stitches on the stocking and on further rotation of the said drum thecam 2O is further withdrawn from the needle cylinder to lie.

out ofthe paths of all the ack butts toy produce the widest series c oftuck stitches. The cam 2O is then brought into engagement with the butts 7b and 7 C toy cause the double row of tuck stitches a to be continued,l

From the abovev it is obvious that any VVdesired pattern may be formed en -thestocking by simply rearranging thehigh and low surfaces formed on the patternv cam. yand drum.

It Willi be understood; that when the clock is formed atA ther side of the. stocking as hereinbefore described, there will be` two' similar sets of knitting instruments used, each set being arranged substantially dia lmetrically opposite one anotherin thefseries long flatched needles ordinary knitting. cams adapted to engage. the 7 butts ofyall the needles during round and round; knitting but having Van upwardv range of action sufficient only to cause the short latehed needles to knit; a slidingv cam associated with the ordinary knitting cams adapted to bebrought into position to engage the butts of ally the long, latched need-les to cause themv to knit when desired; means for automatically moving thesad second cam to its, buttA engaging position at predetermined intervals; a third cam in OYa-ble to engagethe jack butts to cause. any desired number or all` the longlatched needlesvto knit duringeach course, whether the sliding cam is in or out of engagement; with the. long latched needlev butts; and means for antomatically moving said cam at predetermined intervals to progressively engage the different lengths of jack butts tol progressively bring the long latched needles intol action and to take-themout of action in. reverse order. vj

' Signed at Hamilton this 2nd day of January 1.924.

ALEXANDER. nerr-Waar ROY VAGG, Witnesses:

SLOAN H Ess, ALICE; SMITH. 

